Treatment of heart disease has traditionally been a highly traumatic endeavor. For many years surgeons would be required to conduct major surgery to correct even relatively minor conditions. Such "open-heart" operations are highly traumatic for the patient and may therefore not be an option for those whose bodies cannot withstand such trauma. Open-heart operations are also expensive and may be risky. There is also a possibility of the patient contracting an infection during his or her extended stay in a medical care facility. For these reasons, some conditions may not merit treatment if open-heart surgery is required for their treatment.
The use of low-trauma surgery devices and techniques has increased the treatment and success rates for many conditions that are either too risky or too expensive to perform during open-heart surgery. The catheter is one such low-trauma device that has been especially successful in the treatment of cardiovascular and other conditions. A typical catheter is a flexible, hollow small-diameter tube that is threaded through a body system (such as the cardiovascular system) until it reaches a location that requires treatment. An advantage of a catheter is that only a small incision need be made to insert the catheter into the body. This significantly reduces the trauma experienced by the patient and dramatically reduces recovery time. Furthermore, depending on the procedure, only local anesthesia may be needed. This reduces the risk and cost of the procedure. Catheters have been successfully used in angioplasty procedures and in the delivery of stents and other medical devices into selected areas of the body.
One procedure that has met with limited success using low-trauma surgical techniques is the killing off or elimination of tissues such as the septum of the heart. If a tissue-killing substance such as alcohol is inserted into an artery leading to the septum, there is a risk that some of the alcohol may travel instead through arteries leading to other portions of the heart. This would damage other portions of the heart, and a heart attack may result. Known infusion techniques have not been able to reliably deliver alcohol to a desired tissue while preventing the alcohol from damaging other tissue.
Another procedure that has met with limited success is the repair of perforations or ruptures in blood vessels. Such perforations may prove fatal if the rate of the resulting internal bleeding is substantial. Surgery is often required to repair the perforation, but in high-risk circumstances surgery may not be advisable.
Still another procedure that has, until the present invention, created challenges for the surgeon is the occlusion of small, inconsequential vessels. When a smaller vessel is perforated, the physician may decide to permanently block, or occlude, the vessel. Known catheter techniques are unreliable because they do not have a means to hold the catheter in place while treating the damaged vessel. Furthermore, known techniques may not work with vessels having smaller diameters.